Military lawyer selected for Geneva training cours

Monday, July 14, 2008
Military lawyer selected for Geneva training course

Captain Jane Derbyshire in Afghanistan earlier this year.

Centre for Defence Studies lecturer Captain Jane Derbyshire has been chosen to attend an advanced training course in international humanitarian law in Geneva, Switzerland.

Captain Derbyshire is one of 29 university teachers worldwide world-wide selected for the three-day course run by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, to be held at the end of August. Captain Derbyshire teaches papers in military law and the law of armed conflict at Massey, one of three serving military officers at the Centre for Defence Studies.

The course will explore specific issues and recent developments related to a range of international humanitarian law topics such as the war on terror, private military and security companies and the interaction between international humanitarian law and human rights law.

Captain Derbyshire says the course will help both her teaching at Massey and in the Defence Force, where she works as a legal officer in the New Zealand Army based at Waiouru.

“The Geneva academy is well funded and highly regarded and the course will provide up-to-date resource materials that will be of immense use both at Massey and in the military. It’s also a great chance to gain contacts from around the world.”

Captain Derbyshire says the course covers the same subjects as her paper, law in armed conflict.

“We cover the war on terror, the classification of insurgents and legality within a conflict, so what I learn in Geneva will compliment and update what I teach in that paper.”

ENDS

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